1977 – A speaker claiming to represent the "Intergalactic Association" interrupted the Southern Television broadcast in South East England, warning viewers that "All your weapons of evil must be destroyed."

The Southern Television broadcast interruption hoax[?] was a broadcast interruption through the Hannington transmitter of the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the United Kingdom at 5:10 PM on 26 November 1977. The transmission itself claimed to be from an extraterrestrial being.

A speaker interrupted transmissions for six minutes and claimed to be a representative of an "Intergalactic Association". Reports of the incident vary, some calling the speaker "Vrillon" or "Gillon", others "Asteron".

The voice, which was disguised and accompanied by a deep buzzing, broke into the broadcast of the local ITV station Southern Television, over-riding the UHF audio signal of the early-evening news being read by Andrew Gardner from ITN to warn viewers that "All your weapons of evil must be destroyed" and "You have but a short time to learn to live together in peace."

The interruption ceased shortly after the statement had been delivered, transmissions returning to normal shortly before the end of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Later in the evening, Southern Television apologised for what it described as "a breakthrough in sound" for some viewers. ITN also reported on the incident in its own late-evening Saturday bulletin.

The broadcast took over the sound only, leaving the video signal unaltered. At that time, the Hannington UHF transmitter was unusual in being one of the few transmitters which rebroadcast an off-air signal received from another transmitter, rather than being fed directly by a landline. As a consequence it was open to this kind of signal intrusion, as even a relatively low-powered transmission very close to the transmitter could overwhelm its reception of the intended signal, resulting in the unauthorised transmission being amplified and rebroadcast across a far wider area. The IBA stated that to carry out the hoax would take "a considerable amount of technical know-how" and a spokesman for Southern Television confirmed that "A hoaxer jammed our transmitter in the wilds of North Hampshire by taking another transmitter very close to it."

The incident caused some alarm locally, and attracted considerable publicity in the next day's Sunday newspapers, with the IBA immediately pronouncing that the broadcast was a hoax. The IBA confirmed that it was the first time such a hoax transmission had been made.

The event was reported around the world with numerous American newspapers picking up the story from the UPI press agency.

The broadcast also became a footnote in ufology as some chose to accept the supposed 'alien' broadcast at face value, questioning the explanation of a transmitter hijack. Within two days of the report of the incident in the Times, a letter to the editor published on November 30, 1977 asked "[How] can the IBA - or anyone else - be sure that the broadcast was a hoax?". An editorial in America's Eugene Register-Guard commented "Nobody seemed to consider that 'Asteron' may have been for real".By as late as 1985, the story had entered urban folklore, with suggestions that there had never been any explanation of the broadcast.

The Winter 1977 issue of Fortean Times (issue #24) magazine featured a transcript of what they described as the 'short message' that was broadcast:

"This is the voice of Asteron. I am an authorised representative of the Intergalactic Mission, and I have a message for the planet Earth. We are beginning to enter the period of Aquarius and there are many corrections which have to be made by Earth people. All your weapons of evil must be destroyed. You have only a short time to learn to live together in peace. You must live in peace... or leave the galaxy."

The Fortean Times article went on to criticise reports of the incident appearing in newspapers:

"Inexplicably the News Of The World and D. Mail call the owner of the voice 'Gillon, of the Ashdown Galactic Command' and that he said: "Unless the weapons of Earth are laid down, destruction from outer space invasion will quickly follow." I hope their regular news reportage is more accurate than that, for the indication is that they've simply invented a more shocking message."

Speaking on British commercial radio on December 6, 1977, Sir John Whitmore also questioned newspaper reporting of the incident, referring to a recording of the complete broadcast which appeared to exist at the time.

Author Nelson Algren included a variation of the message in his 1983 book, The Devil's Stocking, a fictionalized account of the trial of Rubin Carter, a real-life prize-fighter who had been found guilty of double murder. In the book, as a period of unrest within the prison begins, the character 'Kenyatta' gives a speech closely mirroring the Fortean Times transcript of the Southern Television interruption:

"I am an authorized representative of the Intergalactic Mission," Kenyatta finally disclosed his credentials. "I have a message for the Planet Earth. We are beginning to enter the period of Aquarius. Many corrections have to be made by Earth people. All your weapons of evil must be destroyed. You have only a short time to learn to live together in peace. You must live in peace" - here he paused to gain everybody's attention - "you must live in peace or leave the galaxy!"

It should be noted that the speaker in interruption claims to be a representative of the "Intergalactic Mission," and yet later claims that if humanity doesn't learn to live in peace, they will be forced to leave the galaxy. This would be an odd punishment from an "Intergalactic Mission," seeing as it would clearly span more than one galaxy. Also, the speaker says that "we are beginning to enter the period of Aquarius." The position of the stars in the sky is subjective to the observer's location in the galaxy, and therefore the constellation of Aquarius only exists near to our solar system, so it would be unlikely that an intergalactic race would use it as a time reference.

Exactly 47 years ago today, J.B.S. Haldane passed away in India. He was one of the three main founders of the discipline of Population Genetics that lay the mathematical foundations to the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis.

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane FRS (5 November 1892 – 1 December 1964), known as Jack (but who used 'J.B.S.' in his printed works), was a British-born geneticist and evolutionary biologist. A staunch Marxist, he was critical of Britain's role in the Suez Crisis, and chose to leave Oxford and moved to India and became an Indian citizen. He was one of the founders (along with Ronald Fisher and Sewall Wright) of population genetics.

He also did works on the physiology field, often doing crazy experiments upon himself and his colleagues...

Shortly before his death from cancer, Haldane wrote a comic poem while in the hospital, mocking his own incurable disease; it was read by his friends, who appreciated the consistent irreverence with which Haldane had lived his productive life:

"Cancer’s a Funny Thing: I wish I had the voice of Homer To sing of rectal carcinoma, This kills a lot more chaps, in fact, Than were bumped off when Troy was sacked..."

The poem ends:

"...I know that cancer often kills, But so do cars and sleeping pills; And it can hurt one till one sweats, So can bad teeth and unpaid debts. A spot of laughter, I am sure, Often accelerates one’s cure; So let us patients do our bit To help the surgeons make us fit

Haldane died on 1 December 1964. He willed that his body be used for study at the Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada.

"My body has been used for both purposes during my lifetime and after my death, whether I continue to exist or not, I shall have no further use for it, and desire that it shall be used by others. Its refrigeration, if this is possible, should be a first charge on my estate."

Both John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell were murdered on this day. Another sad day.

just plain doug wrote:

The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, later resulting in the United States becoming militarily involved in World War II

feetlightup wrote:

On this day, 3 years ago, my daughter was born. And though she has nothing to do with Pearl Harbor, she is indeed a pearl who was harvested from the safe harbor of her prenatal womb into this crazy friggin' world.

just plain doug wrote:

feetlightup wrote:

On this day, 3 years ago, my daughter was born. And though she has nothing to do with Pearl Harbor, she is indeed a pearl who was harvested from the safe harbor of her prenatal womb into this crazy friggin' world.

Does this mean she'll grow up to be a blonde bombshell?

Mr_Green_Genes wrote:

jabba wrote:

Both John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell were murdered on this day. Another sad day.

The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, later resulting in the United States becoming militarily involved in World War II

Not that I wouldn't trust you Doug. But I've heard from other (conspiracy) theories claiming it wasn't such a surprise - at least for some people in Washington D.C.

just plain doug wrote:

My_Name_Is_Fritz wrote:

just plain doug wrote:

The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, later resulting in the United States becoming militarily involved in World War II

Not that I wouldn't trust you Doug. But I've heard from other (conspiracy) theories claiming it wasn't such a surprise - at least for some people in Washington D.C.

Well, it was a surprise to me!

sabrinaIII wrote:

You're older than I realized!

My_Name_Is_Fritz wrote:

sabrinaIII wrote:

You're older than I realized!

That's what I thought as well, Sabby ! Maybe we should've consideration for him.

Good evening Mr. Doug. How do we feel today ?

just plain doug wrote:

My_Name_Is_Fritz wrote:

sabrinaIII wrote:

You're older than I realized!

That's what I thought as well, Sabby ! Maybe we should've consideration for him.

Good evening Mr. Doug. How do we feel today ?

Eh? What say? Speak up, sonny!

last year:

Mr_Green_Genes wrote:

1980 – Former Beatle John Lennon was fatally shot in the entrance hallway of the Dakota apartments in New York City.

...and on Thursday, December 22, 1988, Chico Mendes was assassinated in his Xapuri home by Darly Alves da Silva Jr, a rancher's son. The shooting took place exactly one week after Mendes' 44th birthday, when he had predicted he would "not live until Christmas"

"At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity."—Chico Mendes

_________________The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

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